1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to clips and more particularly to a pair of cooperating clip members for securing gypsum board and like material to various building structures and particularly to concrete support columns and beams.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the construction of office buildings, shopping malls and other large structures, it is often necessary, for structural reasons, to position concrete support columns and beams within the interior of the building. As would generally be agreed, these support columns and beams are aesthetically unattractive and are therefore often enclosed using precut sheets of wall material such as drywall or gypsum board.
In the past, a variety of fastening means have been developed in an attempt to decrease the time and labor needed to completely enclose support columns and beams using various types of sheet materials. One such method includes a series of furring channels which are arranged perpendicular to the beams at predetermined intervals. These furring channels are applied to the beams by any convenient means such as adhesives or steel fasteners. Subsequent to positioning the furring channels, the gypsum board is applied to the channels using a variety of fastening means.
Other examples of fastening means used to enclose structural members are contained in the following U.S. Patents:
______________________________________ Patent Number Name Date ______________________________________ 1,104,346 Church July 21, 1914 1,243,001 Stewart Oct. 16, 1917 2,765,886 Tedaldi et al. Oct. 9, 1956 3,274,739 Gregoire Sept. 27, 1966 3,413,775 Katz Dec. 3, 1968 3,748,815 Parker July 31, 1973 ______________________________________
Although the above prior art methods have met with varying degrees of success in the marketplace, they in many instances require extensive amounts of labor and/or material to completely enclose the structural member.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a clip which will quickly and economically secure a plurality of drywall panels and like materials to all sides of a concrete support column or beam.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a clip which is simple and rugged in construction and which can be adapted to a large number of column and beam designs.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a clip which permits faster, less costly enclosure of concrete structural members.
Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will be obvious and in part be apparent from the specification and attached drawings.